Apple Cake

When I was a little girl, I loved apples.  I remember eating at least one each day.  And I loved the tart green apple best of all.

But my love for apples were only for the chilled fresh fruit.  I distinctly disliked apples in any other form except fresh, chilled and without the skin!  So while my mom's apple pie was possibly the best, I ate little of it (although to be fair, it was the only apple pie I would eat).    I did not like apple cake at all, although last year, I decided I liked this Apple Upside-Down Cake.  

As I grew older, I grew less fond of apples.  But this did not mean that I did not try to use them for baking!  Especially since we (usually) get a lot of apples in December.  So I baked a lot of apple desserts... mommy's apple pie (at least trying it), apple tarts, apple muffins, apple cakes... all of which everyone else would eat, not me.

Then last week, I discovered Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Marie-Helene's Apple Cake.  I loved it!  And it was rather easy to make.

As usual I made little changes... like using a mandoline to slice the apples instead of slicing them into chunks (it was really faster to use the mandoline!)... adding apple pie spice...  reducing the sugar and using light brown sugar (and then sprinkling the top with more light brown sugar and more apple pie spice)... and finally, using 2 6-inch Springform pans instead of a single 9-inch.

I used a mix of Fuji apples and Gala apples, although I think I might have overdone the apples.  Dorie Greenspan's recipe called for 4 apples (varying kinds).  What I had was 1 medium Fuji apple and about 6 small Gala apples.  I thought 2 small apples would be equivalent to a medium one...

I love, love, love this cake!!!  It's more apple than cake, I would say, and I really like that the apple slices still have a crunch to it!  And the brown sugar on top added more crunch too.

Hubby had his cake with vanilla ice cream and he was so happy with it that he got second and third helpings!